Together
by StarsAboveInMyEyes
Summary: They really were lively together. Fun, carefree drabble.


Gasping for breath, Ginny Weasley resolutely forced her legs to move over the marshy grounds of Hogwarts, struggling, hunch-backed and sore-shouldered, round the rim of the Black Lake.

"Give up yet?" A cheeky voice interrupted the wheezing ones in her mind and she fumed, reaching behind herself to swat the speaker across the head.

"Not so soon, Harry Potter," she managed, only pausing once between the words. "I'm not stopping until that smile is off of your face -"

"I thought you liked my smile," Harry protested, practically glowing at how tired she looked.

"- and you're waving your wand like a fool, mumbling in Dog Latin in the Common Room," she finished, unable to stop the grin breaking across her face at Harry's cheery protest.

"Yeah, you think so?" he shot back and she could tell that he was grinning broadly.

"I _know_ so," she emphasised, red-faced and glaring determinedly ahead.

"I'm terrified."

"Oh, you better be."

"Well, in that case, I'm not."

"Never one to do what you're supposed to, huh, Potter?"

"Oh, you know me, Weasley, I live by my own rules." He puffed his chest out and Ginny felt her knees buckle, almost giving out.

"Merlin, sometimes you're more of a prat than Ron," she smirked and swung her hair back, muffling Harry's offended "Hey!" at her comment. And with that, she shook him off of her back, giggling as he plopped to the ground in a heap.

"Your turn," she declared victoriously, standing over him as he pouted, straightening his glasses. She beamed, having reached the large ear-shaped boulder near the bank which had been serving as their marker.

"You're insufferable," Harry smiled, saying exactly what she'd been thinking about him as she jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck, burrowing her face in his messy hair as he strode along the edge of the Lake.

"You too," she quipped back. The two had been set on this for the past hour, taking turns giving each other piggy-back rides around the Black Lake. It had started off from a simple observation Hermione had made while they'd been discussing Ancient Runes in Ginny's dorm; merely that had Latin been taught at Hogwarts, spell crafting would've been a lot less complicated, particularly when it came to Arithmancy and how Hermione had had to use two dictionaries in her Arithmancy O.W.L. to create simple charms, like those used to turn panes of glass bizarre colours or Transfigure teacups so that porcelain became seven different metals moulded together.

Following the conversation, Ginny had turned the idea over in her head for a surprisingly long day, leading Harry to ask her if something was wrong. She'd truthfully told him no and explained the reason for her thoughtfulness, only to find that Harry had been pondering about spell crafting as well due to the Half-Blood Prince's book and so, the two had come to a deal: they would carry each other around the Black Lake in turns until one of them tripped, fell in, and would be forced to invent a successfully working spell in the vicinity of the crowded Gryffindor Common Room. It was slightly dangerous and random for a dare but Ginny found that if something peaked her interest, it was usually worth a go at, even if a few rules had to be bent along the way.

"Less so than you, GinGin," Harry said smugly, using the twins' nickname for her, effectively ending her reminiscence.

"We'll see who's talking later, Ickle Harrikins," she laughed against his neck, feeling oddly at peace with the path her life was taking. They remarked amicably back and forth for the next ten minutes, during which Harry's legs started to ache and their conversations became whispered, the sun setting over the horizon. Ginny pointed the sunset out as Harry neared the end of his round. He stopped, gazing dreamily at it with her head on his shoulder.

"It's just like your hair," he mumbled and she blushed; the sky did look entrancing behind the sleepy orange sun. They stood that way for the next few minutes, admiring the streaks of gold and red decorating the sky in a haze of Gryffindor colours and spirit, orange sunlight lighting up their hair like sparks from Weasleys Wildfire Whizbangs. The grounds slowly emptied until only a handful of students were left, either staring distractedly into space or chattering in a carefree manner while the sky steadily darkened above them. Just as the first few stars started to appear, Harry broke out of his reverie and made to step over a log, still eyeing the velvety sky.

"Harry -" an alarmed voice sounded behind him but it was already too late - he tripped, plummeting over the crumbling log and into the Lake's cold water with Ginny shrieking in his ear and holding desperately onto him. They had - owing, no doubt, to their excellent luck - fallen into one of the deeper parts of the Lake that cut the grounds. The biting cold water shocked them out of the serenity of watching a sunset, snaking through their hair like tendrils of frost. Harry grinned sheepishly as he turned to look at Ginny, whose red haired fanned out intimidatingly underwater. She could only glare at him for a second before grinning herself too - Harry's smile was too contagious to resist. She grabbed his hand and they swam back up, gasping and sputtering when they reached the surface, shivering uncontrollably with their teeth chattering through their smiles. Laughter broke out between the two as they made their way to the ground, sopping wet and weighed down by their robes.

"Ginny, wait -" Harry said once they had stilled, looking at something near her jaw. He reached out and pulled what looked like a grub off of her skin, the slight touch feathery against it. Ginny was too focused on his eyes to feel disgusted, the bright green hue glimmering in her direction with too much care to be real, too much affection to exist. And yet, here he was, flicking the grub away before turning back to her, almond shaped eyes confused and concerned as she stared into them.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ginny replied softly, taking his hand in hers as her eyes bored into his, a distant almost-smile playing on her lips. "I just never thought this would actually happen, you know."

Harry appeared puzzled at that.

"Are you talking about me falling in the lake or -" he trailed off when Ginny gave him a look of exasperation before giggling, mussing up his hair as her laughter filled the silence. "No, silly. I was talking about - well," she gestured around them. "You. Me. I-I never thought it would actually happen, y'know. And," she paused, taking in the grounds before meeting his bright gaze. "And I'm glad it did. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad _we're_ here."

Harry said nothing, taking a moment to trace her features with his eyes in the semi-darkness, her fiery red hair that swayed when she laughed, the brown of her irises that shone like honey in sunlight, the dimple that appeared in her left cheek whenever she -

"Are you two done staring at each other or should I - Ouch! What was that for?" Ron's voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned away from Ginny to find Ron rubbing his arm and glaring at Hermione, who was smiling at them in an radiant, mystified, and most un-Hermioneish way, mostly at Ginny.

Grinning back, Harry pulled out his wand and dried himself, watching as Ginny did the same and water seeped away from her lank hair, returning it to its usual softness in a wisp of vapour.

"Let's get going, shall we?" she wrapped her arm around his and the two rushed away, Ron grumbling behind them and Hermione smiling from ear to ear as they made for the castle.

———

"Oi, you better not drop that," Ginny warned, not looking up from her Herbology book despite the oddly tall shadow hovering over her.

"We won't," Ron and Harry replied at the same time as her brother placed another book on top of the already tottering pile, tongue sticking out slightly from the corner of his mouth and a bead of sweat trickling down his neck. Harry exhaled deeply, concentration pinching his face as he levitated the book at the bottom on which her brother had stacked forty-four others.

"You two have to be the most inconsiderate and disrespectful trolls I've ever met," Hermione shot poisonously at them, nostrils flaring as she held tightly onto the book she was reading, fingertips pale from force, refusing to glance at the tower of tomes above the table.

"Hey, it's not like we're burning them!" Ron protested, too focused to look aghast at her comment.

"And what's _Reparo_ for anyway?" Harry added, voice strained from holding the Levitation Charm for so long. If Ginny's estimation was correct then he'd been doing it for almost seventeen minutes, which would've been impressive if she hadn't been berating herself for not studying during all that time.

"It's ... foul!" Hermione glared at the pair, a few strands of hair coming free from her poofy ponytail, leading Ginny to wonder if hair truly did have a life of its own or if it was just another quirk of having as much information whizzing in your head as Hermione Granger. "Of all the things you could've messed around with, you chose perfectly good books!"

"Alright, alright," Ron relented, standing on his toes on the chair as he balanced the forty-seventh book, _Alchemy from a Muggle Perspective_, on the top, face glowing with anticipation and excitement. "We'll stop when we reach the fifty book mark," he assured Hermione, who scowled darkly in response.

"Right," Harry let out a measured breath, wrist shaking slightly. "Could you hurry up?"

Ron nodded, jumping off the cushioned chair and snatching three books from a nearby shelf: a Rune dictionary that puffed out foggy words every one and then, a Muggle fiction novel with an oddly watchful eye on it, and a thick, grey, silk-bound _Ensyclopedia of Invisibility_ which flickered every few seconds in his arms. He carefully positioned them on the top, backing away slowly without taking his eyes off of it, a victorious smile starting to form on his face.

"Yes!" Harry began proudly. "We -"

"Ron, no!" Hermione's screech startled them at the same time that Ron stumbled from the back of the chair and crashed backward, legs flailing. His foot caught the pile by a hair and it thundered down on their heads, Hermione throwing herself in front of the fireplace to stop the paperbacks from burning to ash. Ginny cast a quick _Protego_ in front of herself just in time as a copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters_ came growling at her, barely preventing her face from getting mauled.

"Ow," Harry rose from the floor, glasses hanging from one ear and rubbing his head. Ron's pained groan sounded a few seconds after. Ginny raised her eyebrows at the mess, hardly refraining from smirking at the sheepish expressions on Harry and Ron's faces as Hermione turned on them, grabbing a random book off of her leg and absently undoing the dog-eared pages on it.

"You two are in so. Much. Tr -" a bright flash of light cut her off and she reared on it like a tiger, jaw clenched furiously. Colin Creevey lowered his camera and smiled excitedly at them from the other side of the Common Room.

"Thanks for the picture!" he beamed innocently, calmly making his way out of the portrait hole; Hermione looked scandalised, Ron and Harry confused. Ginny couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. All three heads turned to her, Ron reacting so fast that he might as well have cricked his neck.

"You guys - are so ridiculous," she choked between breaths, the boredom of revision finally seeming to have caught up with her so that she laughed harder than she normally would have, causing Harry to conceal a chuckle.

"Well, I - " Hermione stuttered as Ginny clutched her stomach, eyes watering with glee. "Honestly, whatever!" She stood up, summoning each of the books into her hands and onto a shelf in a haste. She subdued _The Monster Book of Monsters_ and thrust it into Ron's chest as he wobbled to his feet, not looking at him as she stiffly ordered him to return it to its owner. She sent them all one last glare before snatching the book she had been reading, sinking into a chair, and hiding herself behind it, waving dismissively at Ron to go when he gave no indication of wanting to return the monstrous book.

While all this took place, Harry raised his eyebrows at her in amusement, jerking his head to the windows as Ron left. Understanding his message, Ginny nodded and they exited the Common Room, blissfully ignoring Hermione's disapproving headshake and 'tut-tut' at the fact that she was not studying intensively for her O.W.L.s.

"So, how's that spell coming along?" she asked.

"Er - it's not coming as much it is just standing there," Harry replied. "I never knew Latin had this many synonyms though. You'd think they said 'communication' every two minutes by the loads I found."

"Weird," Ginny commented, linking their arms together. "But it'll be worth it when I get to see you embarrass yourself after exams."

"Aren't you quite the helping hand," Harry murmured as they strolled into the grounds, thinking that he'd give all the gold he had to make this last a little longer, to stop the words of the prophecy from ringing in his head or to have one last year spent searching for Latin words instead of a dark wizard's soul fragments ...

"You still in there?" Ginny cut through his thoughts and he turned to her, a strange serenity overtaking the building dread inside him.

"'Course I am."

"Well, you'd better stay," she teased, pecking him on the cheek, "or else I'll have to try to talk to the Giant Squid and he's not very keen on conversation." And she steered him to the large beech tree under which his father had sat with Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew all those years ago, launching into a rant about Romilda Vane's persistent interrogation sessions about him and, once again, effectively distracting him from all else.

They really were lively together.

———


End file.
